


Earth-134

by dancingknives



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Earth, M/M, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 11:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22315369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancingknives/pseuds/dancingknives
Summary: After Earth-2 is destroyed by the Anti-Matter wave and Oliver had to watch his family die yet again, The Monitor sends him on another task. And so he is surprised by yet another incarnation of Adrian Chase. Would he never be free of the man?
Relationships: Adrian Chase & Oliver Queen, Adrian Chase/Oliver Queen
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Earth-134

It’s not fair. He’s still thinking about it. Still ruminating. Could he have reached her hand? Taken his mother through the portal. Saved her? Could he have shouted for Tommy to run? His reflexes certainly were fast enough for both those things. So why didn’t he? Did he want to let them die, in that moment, to save himself the agony of losing them again? Because that’s what would’ve happened anyway. No matter what John says. People around him die. People he loves die. It’s not a curse, it’s just a truth. And there’s no fighting that.

John is taking Laurel to the Bunker to get more information, get settled. Somehow get closure on the fact that her entire world just melted away. Oliver tries to walk it off, but The Monitor appears out of nowhere again, looming over him. He congratulates him on a job well done, but doesn’t even given Oliver a chance to yell before telling him what needs to happen next. He needs to retrieve The Lotus, from the one earth where it wasn’t used on Thea. Because in that earth, Ra’s has focused his attentions on some bat hero instead of him.

So before he’s even processed the ludicrousness of what The Monitor wants from him and the deaths of his family yet again, he finds himself sitting up in a familiar bedroom. It’s his apartment from when he moved in with William. Actually almost everything’s the same. He looks over at Felicity’s side of the bed and is surprised to see the nightstand doesn’t have her Hello Kitty alarm clock (she got it as a gag gift from Curtis—the only low tech thing she would ever own—except she then wired it with a high definition security camera so… joke was on him), the jewelry she’d haphazardly throw off at the end of the day (only to knock it awry most nights and then spend several minutes looking for the next morning). It’s completely empty. Come to think of it, the whole room is emptier than he remembers. None of Felicity’s other decorative touches have made it in this earth, it’s like it was when he first bought it. The basics. Minimalist. He wonders if on this earth she’s a calm person too.

Except then he hears a decidedly masculine voice near the entrance. And when the door opens, his body chills. He swears this man deserves his own creepy jingle that plays whenever he appears. It’s Chase. But not Chase with a suit, or with a costume, black or green. It’s Chase, in a t-shirt and sweats, with an apron depicting a crude image of a caveman and the tagline “I am Prometheus. I bring fire.” It takes all of Oliver’s training to remember that this is a different earth, certainly the fact that he’d just come from one where Chase was the Arrow helped some, and to keep himself from recoiling when Chase sets the tray of breakfast foods he’s carrying down across his lap. 

“Ok so we got a classic omelet, all the fixings, extra fried tomatoes, some OJ and then a hazelnut chocolate muffin that I actually managed to not burn this time,” Chase starts rattling off as Oliver looks on in bewilderment.

Chase winks at him, “sixth time’s the charm, right?” 

Oliver smiles weakly back and Chase doesn’t even notice as he continues his morning report, “William has been fed and is off to early morning swim trials before school with Raisa. Don’t forget you have to show up at the principal’s office this evening, they’re adamant that all of William’s parents & guardians,” Chase rolls his eyes as he speaks, “understand the seriousness of this situation. Now I’ll be at the courthouse all day, but Sam will meet me there so I can drive her over to the school. You have a meeting with Councilwoman Balakrishnan on the new drug prevention program late afternoon though, so you’ll need to make sure to come right after so you can be on time, ok?”

Oliver nods, at once understanding that somehow he’s still Mayor and Chase is still DA, while trying to comprehend how much else can be different, and wondering how much of this Oliver Queen’s life he can fuck up by not doing any of those things and instead undertaking a covert mission to retrieve some sacred elixir. All the while trying to not examine his and Chase’s relationship too closely.

But that goes to shit when Chase, seemingly satisfied that he’s attended to actual responsibilities, takes the conversation in a different direction.

“Now, I was thinking since we’re all up an hour early anyway and you’re a fast eater…” with the lingering suggestion and a smirk on his face, he leans in to kiss Oliver.

Oliver is sure his eyes are bigger than the plates in front of him. Which is how he can clearly see that Chase’s eyes are blissfully closed. The kiss lasts but a moment before Chase pulls away with a frown.

“You ok, babe?” He asks, looking down quizzically.

Oliver clears his throat and stammers awkwardly, “yeah… um… I’m just… a lot is on my mind. I think I might actually head in a little early,” he thanks the stars that City Hall is just far enough away from the brand new courthouse that they’d most likely be going separately. 

“This is all,” he gestures wildly at the food, “amazing. Mmm… top notch,” he says as he takes a bite of the muffin. It really is.

“I’m going to take it to go and eat it on the way. I’m sorry, can I make this up to you later?” Words continue spilling out of his mouth as he puts the tray to the side and gets up to grab his clothes, blushing briefly when he realizes that apparently this version of him sleeps naked. 

“Don’t worry though,” he says as he hops into his slacks and then dives into the closet for a shirt, “I will for sure make it to that important meeting with Councilwoman… um… yes about drug prevention.”

“…and will definitely be on time,” he says as he threads a belt on his pants and tucks everything in, ducking into the bathroom to check that he looks remotely decent, “…and thank you,” he says, coming out and pointing at Chase emphatically, “so much for picking up Samantha, you always are so on top of it, just… great!” He says, throwing an awkward fist pump into the air.

Chase follows him into the kitchen, arms crossed as Oliver continues to spew sentences while packing up the breakfast. “…and so excited to talk about William tonight, could not agree more,” he takes a gulp of water before continuing, “situation is very serious indeed, really looking forward to input from everyone…”

Oliver grabs what he hopes is his laptop from the two on the counter. It looks like his anyway, there’s at least a school sticker on it whereas Chase’s presumably is the one with no decorations.

“…so that we can all find a good, balanced solution with which to move forward. And then maybe after that we can all go out for a nice family dinner,” he says, making the last final adjustments, before appearing in front of Chase, ready to go.

“Thank you, you… awesome man,” he finishes lamely. And then with the quickest peck he can muster, he’s out the door.

Chase looks at the door silently for a moment. Then takes out his phone and speed dials the first option.

“Hey,” he says, tone suddenly completely serious, “we have a problem.”

* * *

Oliver checks in at work, probably pisses off a lot of people by re-arranging a significant part of his day to “work” offsite. Then he’s at the Bunker and that’s where he feels like he’s finally breathing normally again. What a crazy morning.

A quick bit of research and it turns out a clue to The Lotus’ whereabouts might be at Palmer Tech. Apparently they at least have a small sample of the potion. The billionaire technologist has been experimenting on its chemical properties for the “good of all mankind.” Good ole’ Ray, he thinks, never one to believe in something other than science.

It's ridiculously easy to land a meeting with an exec (he's still a celebrity Mayor after all), swipe a keycard, and then access the lab area. But before he can enter, hears the _thwang_ of a bow being fired and barely ducks in time to avoid the arrow that flies at him. He whips around and readies to fire himself but is shocked by who he sees. Even with the mask he knows it’s her.

“Speedy?” he says.

She nods curtly, “Oliver, what are you doing here?”

Thea moves quickly to pick up the arrow lying harmlessly next to him. Flat rubber tipped. At most it would’ve bruised sharply but not done serious damage.

At least he knows they’re on the same side.

“What are _you_ doing here?” he says, mimicking her.

She rolls her eyes under the mask. “Are you kidding me right now? I’m here because Adrian called me this morning after you acted like a crazy person. And then I followed you when you played hooky and came here and did this!” She gestures to his entire costume.

“What’s wrong with you, you know you can’t be a vigilante anymore, you’re the Mayor now!”

“Special secret mission,” is all that he’s able to get out.

Thea walks right up to him and jabs her index finger into his chest as he resists pulling her into a tight embrace.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ve all talked about this, and you’ve been doing well for years. You are retired. Capital R-retired. No more hoods or masks. That’s why I’m here. What’s the point of having me and the team around if you’re going to go off and pull some crazy stunt like this?” She hisses.

She continues, “at least you were acting suspiciously insane enough today to get caught, have you been doing this other times?” Oliver just looks at her and shakes his head. 

“I’m sorry, one time thing only, I just… thought it’d be easy and quick,” he replies, though he knows she can easily see the lame excuse for what it was.

“You don’t get to decide that. That’s not how this works. I’m going to tell Adrian.” 

“Wait,” he says quickly, unsure of exactly why he doesn’t want Chase to know. He still doesn’t trust him fully, yet.

She looks at him weirdly so he’s just able to get out, “we’re all going to William’s school tonight for a conference, I don’t want to ruin that, can we please just talk about this later?”

“Fine,” she says crossing her arms, “but you’re leaving with me, right now.”

“I just…” Oliver says, turning to look at the room where his prize lay.

“No,” she emphasizes, pulling on his elbow. “You can explain this super important mission of yours to us later, and then we will work on it. God Ollie, you were making so much progress with the whole trusting people and being transparent thing.”

Part of him wants to just brush her off. But part of him is proud of the way she’s grown into this hero. She’s better than he could ever be. So he relents.

* * *

The rest of his workday goes decently well. It’s shockingly easy to be a politician on another world where you have no idea what’s going on. The Councilwoman’s proposal sounds totally decent, though she seems surprised when he says as much. He hopes he’s not creating too many problems for this world’s Oliver.

Not that he has too long to dwell on it, because then he’s rushing to William’s school. Chase & Samantha are chatting lightly on the steps when he jogs up to them. Oliver sheepishly waves.

“Hey… Samantha, good to see you again.”

She looks at him weirdly, “um… it’s Sam. We had brunch a week ago.” She tilts her head, “are you feeling OK?”

Realizing that Chase is also looking at him funny, he quickly expels a jet of air and puts on that politician’s smile, “I’m fine, I’m sorry, I’ve had a bit of a day.”

Chase raises an eyebrow. He’s not smiling, even when he leans forward. Oliver reluctantly follows suit, but it seems at the last moment, he’s saved by sheer luck—Chase opts for a hug instead.

He smiles at Sam, who watches their awkward interaction with a frown.

When Chase pulls back there’s a small smile on his face that, were Oliver more observant, he would’ve realized didn’t quite reach the DA’s eyes. Chase gestures with a hand, “well, then, let’s go.” 

Like his son on his earth, this William also got bullied. However, unlike his son on his earth, this William fights back. Apparently far too aggressively. So the other parents have complained, en masse, and very anonymously; this is the Mayor & DA’s son after all. 

So Chase is listening to the principal talk. Clever mind working out possibilities. William sits with his hands crossed, eyes looking straight at the clock and refusing to look anywhere else. Samantha looks between each of them in turn, as if trying to see where she needed to spend most of her placating energy.

Turns out its on William. Chase is still chatting with the principal in that, creepy, lull-you-into-a-false-sense-of-security-way that Oliver is way too familiar with, when William suddenly wrenches his gaze away from the clock and furious interjects. 

“No, that’s not fair, you didn’t hear them. I heard them, they used the F word when talking about you and Dad.” 

Silence fills the room. The principal shifts uncomfortably in his seat. He opens his mouth and starts speaking but then William once more talks over him, filling in the rest of the story, no longer content to be silent. Chase is looking on simply with amusement. Oliver lets his son carry on for another moment, unsure of his role in this parental conglomeration, but finally, decides its time to step in.

“Enough.” He wonders if he has a special Arrow voice. He doesn’t think he shouted, or was even very loud, but immediately they all look at him. The principal looks relieved. William looks mutinous. Chase leans back and looks like he’s deep in thought.

“Dad! Didn’t you hear me, how can you say that?!” William launches into another lengthy campaign.

“William, I got it, but you still hit them first. You almost put one of them in the hospital, you…” 

Oliver doesn’t get a chance to finish before the screech of a chair scraping against wood is heard and William stands up. He glares at Oliver then marches out the door.

Samantha stands wordlessly to go after him.

Chase leans forward again and smiles at the principal. “I have an idea for us to move forward on this.”

So thanks to Chase’s magical negotiation skills (Oliver secretly wonders if some amount of money was involved) the situation at school is resolved fairly simply. 

Oliver catches himself wishing Chase would use some of that magic on him and William. His son doesn't look at him, and slams the door to his room immediately after they get back. 

Oliver just sighs and catches Chase watching him intently again.

“Stop that,” he says. Surely if they’re married he’s allowed to say such things. Was Chase really this creepy? How did they ever get together?

“Was I wrong?” Oliver asks. Almost challenges.

Chase shrugs as he moves to the kitchen to get himself something to drink. Oliver is surprised when he pulls open the fridge and just pours himself a glass of what appears to be grape juice.

“I mean, it’s pretty different than what I thought we’d agreed we’d teach to William, so it feels like you made a one-sided decision and then didn’t tell Sam or me.”

Oliver is taken aback by this and sits down at the kitchen bar, looking at Chase in bewilderment.

“We agreed to teach William it’s OK to beat up bullies? To throw the first punch, even?”

“That’s not the case here, and you should know that by now. These kids have been strategic about pushing William to this point. And we all know they’ve thrown the first punch before.”

“So the answer is violence and vengeance?” Oliver demands.

Chase’s eyes narrow at that. “Justice,” he says.

Oliver just shakes his head. 

Chase finishes the rest of his drink. “Ollie, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have amnesia. There’s a lot of… things you’ve been forgetting or not catching onto all day… are you sure you’re doing OK?”

Oliver swallows. He needs to find The Lotus and leave quickly. Chase is smart, he’ll figure it out. And he’s not ready to suffer more punishment from The Monitor… if it means another world will die… this one with his son…

“I’m sorry, I really am, I just… I don’t know I’m very stressed out and I think I’m just… lashing a bit. I’m going to apologize to William and just… let’s just forget this?”

Chase gives him an expressionless look, something he’s unused to from the man. “William will be asleep by now. You can drive him to school tomorrow morning and tell him yourself. I think you should spend the night out here Ollie, clear your head a bit. That cool?”

He knows what Chase is asking, and incidentally he’s relieved. He’s not sure how he would feel, sleeping next to the man. Not just a man, but that man. Just because they’d just fought together doesn’t mean Oliver’s quite ready to have them sleep together just yet. 

* * *

At least on the sex front, he gets lucky. Chase flies somewhere for work. But he’s not lucky on the actual mission part. It’s been days since Thea last checked in, and he knows her lead was close. What she chose to share with him about it anyway, reluctant as she was to get him more involved.

So he takes the opportunity when Chase is gone to send William (still annoyed with him) to stay with Sam, then decides its time for him to get a move on. After all, if Thea did get The Lotus, presumably, all he’d have to do is touch it, and then The Monitor would whisk him away and stitch back together the lives of the characters in this wacky version of his universe. Thea would be fine. William wouldn’t hate him. Chase would be… with the other him.

He follows the tracker he’d secretly implanted on his sister. There’s a sense of foreboding in him as he moves with silence and intent through the forest where the signal last reported. 

Because of course, it’s a trap. Why wouldn’t it be. There is Thea, bruised and tied up. There is the fancy crystal bottle with its contents a mystically glowing blue. And a second later, there’s the sword slicing through the air, nearly about to take his head off if he didn’t counter with his own blade at the last moment. The clang of the two swords clashing ring out in the forest and he and his opponent both jump back. When he raises his head, he’s surprised at who it is. 

“You can take her, she’s alive. But The Lotus is not for you,” Tatsu calmly states. Oliver registers the rustle in the trees around him. He’s surrounded by any number of her soldiers.

“Tatsu, you know me, you know I would never use The Lotus for something unless it was an emergency,” he implores.

She cuts him off with an imperious stare, “I don’t know you. I have never left The Order. No one is permitted to use The Lotus. It is my sacred duty to protect it from all.”

Oliver tries again, “please, I don’t want to fight you.”

“Then go, and do not return.”

“I can’t,” Oliver says. He understands they’ve reached an impasse. He needs to get Thea out of there for medical treatment. He draws an arrow and points it straight at Tatsu. She doesn’t flinch.

“I’m taking them both,” he says resolutely.

Tatsu draws her own katana and crouches down, “you may try.”

He fires and she slices it in half in a millisecond, shouting the command to attack. They’re good but he’s better. And he’s got technology on his side. The trick arrows that explode, that split into three, and others. He’s taking out multiple at a time until they draw too close for distance weapons. Then he draws his own blade and begins the fight in earnest. Block, parry, thrust, slice. He knows this dance intimately.

Kick, strike, punch… maybe even a flip or two. He takes out scores of them before he gets to Tatsu. If he can take her out quickly he stands a better chance against the reinforcements he knows are coming. But if she’s as good as she is on his earth this will not be easy. Turns out she’s better.

From nowhere she draws out a second katana as she blocks a strike from his own blade. She’s swinging both at him in a wild pattern that, without his advanced training from Talia, he may never have predicted. But he manages to keep up with her. Using his bow to block some and dodging others. She doesn’t tire as she continues to advance on him, forcing him back. But this is part of his plan. The trick arrow that he had purposefully shot and planted into the dirt explodes when he draws her to it at just the right moment, knocking her out. 

Timely, as well, because in that moment, her reinforcements arrive. More this time, so he knows he’s still at a disadvantage. And she’s worn him out now. Even still he fights, hard. He’s engaging with a squad of three, gradually cutting them down when he hears movement from a fourth direction, just off to his right. Out of the corner of his eye he is surprised to see Tatsu, bloodied and yet flying through the air, ready to strike him down. He kicks the last soldier to the ground while quickly raising his bow to block but knows he’s just a second off and in very real danger of getting cut badly. In that moment, a gunshot sounds and she drops, stilled.

“I knew you were up to your old tricks again.”

Oliver whips his head around to the sound of Chase’s voice and sees the Vigilante standing a few feet away, smoking gun in hand.

A moment later and Chase is standing next to him. He doesn’t have time to question it, only that the Vigilante is on his side, that Chase is somehow the Vigilante, and that he could use the help. The part of his mind that has been trained to evaluate a fight even as it occurs, marvels at how well they move together. In Earth-2, they only fought for a short period of time, enough for Oliver to gauge that Chase moved well, but different. This Chase however, moves like Oliver would want a clone of himself to move. They were a perfect pair, arrows and guns complementing each other magnificently. They moved like a deadly dervish of weaponry toward where The Lotus was being held. 

There’s not much chance that any ancient martial order has against the two of them. So in short order, Oliver is again holding the vial of blue liquid in his hand.

Adrian nods, panting, taking off his goggles, “so you gonna tell me what all this is about?”

Oliver opens his mouth to first apologize for dragging him into this. But then he hears a scream and sees Chase’s eyes widen. In that mental state where everything’s slowed down he knows an attack is coming. He turns to stave it off. But Chase is just a few steps ahead in reacting. He grabs Oliver and spins him so that the two of them switch places in a moment. 

Tatsu smiles gleefully at him, her sword poking out from Chase’s center. “Even with its last breath, a scorpion will strike,” she says as she collapses, pulling out the sword as she falls.

Chase’s nostrils flare as the movement tears up more of his insides. He presses both gloved hands to his middle before falling to the ground as well. Blood is already pooling around him.

Oliver kneels down immediately, one hand on Chase’s back, maybe together they can stop the inevitable. Chase coughs and spits up blood. Looking at the vial in his hand, Oliver almost thinks he knows how The Monitor is testing him this time. If he were this world’s Oliver, what would he do, as his partner lay dying.

“No, Ollie,” Chase says, shaking him out of his thoughts, “not for me.” 

And it’s sad, Oliver thinks. Because he’s not his Oliver, so he doesn’t think he would have thought about it in that way at all, but he puts the vial down. Acts like it anyway. The least he can do now is give Chase some measure of comfort.

“Tell William…”, Chase says, taking a moment to cough up more blood, “be good, take care of each other, you two.” He says laboriously, before launching into another coughing fit, each one drawing winces more pronounced than the last.

“Adrian… I,” Oliver begins.

Chase shakes his head, then looked back up at him, blue eyes completely clear and cogent. “Ollie… I know you’re not my Ollie. Something about other worlds… I heard Flash say it before.”

Oliver swallows the lump that formed in his throat. He couldn’t even pretend well enough to give this man a last reprieve—the knowledge that at least he got to say goodbye.

“Still though,” Chase says, smiling though tears were openly streaming down his face, “I gotta say it, Ollie, I love you. So if you see him…”

Oliver nods quickly, feeling his own eyes starting to well up. He places his other hand on Chase’s heart.

“I love you, too” he says. Maybe it’s not real for him, for this Oliver, but it is for one of him. That’s enough for him to say it out loud, without falter. That would have to be enough. 

At that Adrian laughs, albeit punctuated by more coughing and pained grunts. Oliver thinks its comical how that laugh is so warm and yet so… Chase at the same time. Whatever that says about how he’s coming to perceive the other man.

Adrian beams at him, “you… love me.” Oliver isn’t sure whether or not it’s a question or an acknowledgment. But it doesn’t matter because in the next moment, Adrian’s body goes completely still and limp. His face is forever locked in that beautiful smile and Oliver’s glad he at least gave him that much. He closes his eyes and stands up, picking up the vial. He wants to throw it, to throw up. But he doesn’t do any of those things. He’s a hero—a paragon.

There’s a rumbling in the distance. He knows what it means now. He taps the device in his pocket, and a portal opens behind him. The soft blue light hits Adrian’s face as Oliver wipes his own with his hands. Although Adrian was right, he wasn’t his Oliver¬, he still couldn’t help but feel like he’d lost something truly profound. He was getting tired of this. 

He watches the red light swallow up Adrian, waits until the last second before ducking through the portal. When it closes there’s a vast emptiness of nothing. Earth-134 is gone.


End file.
